Bayern’s Options to Deal with Boateng Absence

FC Bayern München’s defender, Jérôme Boateng will not be able to play for Bayern up to three months due to an adductor injury which happened in a Bundesliga match against Hamburger SV on January 22nd, 2016.

FC Bayern won the match against Hamburg but losing another defender due to injury wasn’t a good news for them at all. Bayern’s other defenders such as Medhi Benatia and Holger Badstuber are ready to play but they are not 100% fit yet to help the team for the key upcoming matches such as UEFA Champions League round of 16 encounter with Italy’s Juventus.

FC Bayern have confirmed that they won’t be signing any new players in January, which means they have to deal with their current situation. So, here is a review of some possible alternatives and solutions that FC Bayern could go for to repair their defensive line.

Defensive Lahm

The first option for Pep Guardiola is to ask Philipp Lahm to go back to his initial position which is a right-back, or at least he can help the other defenders by running back to the defensive line when he plays as a defensive midfielder (CDM). Lahm is one of the best defenders in the world, plus he is faster than Boateng, but he’s short and Guardiola prefers to have someone who can jump high for to catch the long balls.

Super Neuer

As the current world’s best goalkeeper, Manual Neuer is able to help his defenders by going off the line and playing the role of a sweeper. Neuer’s footwork is great, he is also able to dribble the ball through the opponent’s attackers. His passing accuracy and heading accuracy is good too. So, I’m sure that Pep is going to ask his help for backing the Bayern defenders when needed.

Change of Tactics

As a loss of a tall defender, Bayern München will need to cover up Jerome’s absence especially in aero ball situations. Hence, tall players would be needed to get join for defending. Players like Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski could give a hand to defenders on defending set-pieces near the box. For example, when Bayern are defending a corner kick, Thomas Mueller could run back to the penalty box and cover the far post. Manual Neuer also should be more aware of the long balls by coming off the line more often, which is in fact a bit risky. As a disadvantage, this tactic will create less opportunity for Bayern’s counter attacks.

FC Bayern Munich will play their next Bundesliga match on Jan 31st against Hoffenheim at home, a not difficult match where Pep can benchmark his new tactics without Boateng and see how it would work.